I Think I Have Created A Monster (edited)

I told you a few posts ago that I went over to a BiC's house to help him with a Linux install on a spare PC he owns. His hardware was really substandard (PC Chips motherboard, outdated video card, etc) and it took a while to get the hardware sorted out (he had a bad DVD-R/W and a failing hard drive) but once we did, the install went well. His substandard video card (surprise!) was not a 3d card and was having issues with OpenGL, so I told him he would be better off getting something a little better OR just forget OpenGL all together. He chose the former. He bought the ATI version of my card (which is a decent mid grade card). and had it shipped to him overnight.

He also only had 256 megs of RAM and I told him the machine would run, but it would be a bit slower than a machine with a bit more RAM. He decided to buy more RAM. 1 gig of it, to be exact.

Initally, I could not get my 6.10 Ubuntu Linux to install properly, so I installed 6.06 LTS, which will be supported for a longer period than 6.10 . He asked me what the difference was and to be honest, only a few differences would be noticeable, mostly upgrade version numbers and more bells and whistles.

Why am I retelling this to you? Because it all comes into play for this story:

He called me right before lunch and told me that he did a live update to 6.10 ... I asked him how it went and he told me that it took a really long time (duh!) and when he shut it down, it would not come back up...it only beeped at him.

Beeped?

Sounds like a P.O.S.T. issue (Power On Self Test). I asked him if he made any hardware changes after he had upgraded the OS and he then tells me that he put in the new RAM. Aha! I told him that the most likely issue was that the RAM was not seated properly or it was the wrong kind. He assures me that neither is the case. He is POSITIVE. I ask him to put in the old memory back in and... the beeping continued.

Methinks he did something bad...maybe he still did not put the RAM in properly. I asked him to remove it, use compressed air to clean the slots, and plug them in until he hears the click. It still does not work. He tells me he is going to try something and will call me back.

30 minutes later, he called me back and told me that he thought he had it fixed. So he powers it on and hooray, no beeps...but no video either. I ask him what he did. He said that he popped the old video card out to clean it and he put it in wrong (how does one do that?) Now that it is in "correctly" he does not get any beeps, but he has not video. He tells me that he used compressed air to "clean out the sound card port" and now it does not beep (later I found out that he disconnected the speaker).

He now informs me that his new card just arrived, so he plugged it in instead of the old one, but he cannot get video on it either. I hang my head and tell him that I think it may be the monitor. He says the PC is powering up, the hard drive is spinning, but no video, no beeps. He asks me how to test his monitor and I tell him to go hook up his laptop PC to it and see if he gets video and to call me back. That was almost an hour ago. Heaven only knows what has happened. Maybe he fixed it.

A little later that day, I decided to call him back. He told me that the monitor did not work on his laptop. He had failed to press the function key combination to toggle between the laptop display and the external monitor. He went back into the office and pressed the key combination and PRESTO, the monitor works. Okay, now we are back to the video card and RAM issues.

We check the P.O.S.T code, and it is three beeps. I never seem to remember these things, so I looked it up on wikipedia and found that it was a base 64k RAM issue. My BiC tries both sticks of RAM (one at a time) in each slot and he gets the same error. Since he was not working in a static proof area, I was concerned he may have caused some ESD (Electro-Static Damage) and how he may have fried the DIMM's. The other thought (and more likely) was that he flexed the mobo and cracked a solder connection.

45 minutes later, we still do not have an answer, so he went to Fry's to see if they will test his RAM (since he does not have a way to do so). If it works, his mobo is toast. Not very good news for someone out of a job...

Fry's verified that the RAM was fine and *most likely* he cracked the mobo when he was pushing in the RAM. I have seen it happen beforem but not often. While at Fry's, they make him a "deal" on last years P4 processor and an ECS motherboard for $100. I verify the price of the items on the web and it appears he got a good deal...as long as they last a year or two. I asked him if he verified that his old PSU would work with his new mobo and he got silent...he had not thought about that. He told me he would call me back after he got home.

After I got home, he called me (I had just pulled in to the garage and stepped out of the truck) telling me that everything lights up, but he cannot get the PC to boot. He said the power button is on it still will not begin the boot-up process. I ask him to verify his wiring, thinking he may have his power leads crossed, but he swears all is well. The PSU was the only thing I could think of, but it was working before...maybe it just crapped out...who knows? He tells me that he has to go and he will call me back.

The next morning, after I have been at work for an hour or so, he calls me and tells me that all his research online indicates he has a bad PSU. I agree so he heads back to Fry's to get one. I tell him to compare the various units and he almost buys a new case with a cheap-o PSU in it. I warn him not to do that and tell him to look at the difference in the wiring between the Antec and the cheap-o ones. He agrees and he looks at the 400-450 watt power supplies and sees this one. I tell him that for what he wants, it will be a good PSU...the only drawback is that Fry's has it $10-15 more than online. He tells me he has to have it today. Well, then I guess he has to get it at Fry's.

A little later when he got his shiny new PSU home and installed it...the same thing happens. The board lights up but nothing will boot. He realizes that the open item mobo he bought was defective. Well, he makes another trip to Fry's to replace it.


After lunch, he gets the new mobo home and installs it, powers it up...nothing. He has the exact same problem as he had before with the old mobo and PSU. He gets on the phone with tech support and they walk him through it all...dead mobo. So, he returns EVERYTHING and gets his money back. He is pretty upset. This is his first go at a serious upgrade for his PC and it has been a failure. I ask him what he is going to do and he says he has had enough of trying to build something...he is going to order something later on from Tiger Direct... a $269 special.

Oh Lord.